Aneurysms & Adderall - Does speed kill the otherwise healthy? (Long)

[Ryan]

By way of brief background, I am young (24 year old male), athletic (former personal trainer), do not smoke, use drugs or drink heavily, and have no medical history of any clinically significant illness or injury. I have been taking low doses of Adderall (10mg or less) occasionally for the last 3 years. I don’t take it often so as to limit the abuse to my body (i.e. Adderall raises my normal blood pressure of 110/70 to around 130/85, occasionally as high as 145/92 - it also raises my resting heart rate by about 15bpm).

...
[EDIT: Question truncated and moved to: http://askdoctorjoshua.com/2007/01/23/eye-symptoms-a-sign-of-brain-aneurysm/ ]
...

I suppose my question is three fold: 1) What is the likelihood that an aneurysm has formed since my last MRI/MRA (2 years ago), 2) Is it possible for very light, occasional use of stimulant medications, such as Adderall, to cause cerebral aneurysms, and 3) Is this bizarre poking/foreign body sensation (without pain) ever indicative of an aneurysm?

Thank you so much for your perspective and taking the time to read all of this!

Ryan

[Dr. Joshua]

Hi Ryan, thanks for your question. Here's the link to the answer page:
http://askdoctorjoshua.com/2007/01/23/eye-symptoms-a-sign-of-brain-aneurysm/

[LauraLynn7]

I had a very similar situation recently. I had been taking a stimulant off and on for a couple of years that raised my blood pressure and metabolism. I had the same feeling that was described by the young man in his eye. Mine was in my left eye , in the same position. The reason I am writing regarding this is that I did end up getting diagnosed with a Cerebral Brain Aneurysm in my Carotid Artery on the left side of my head. I was not diagnosed due to the symptoms what so ever, but due to a severe headache they did a CT Scan and did not find anything and later did a CT Scan with contrast and found that I had a small aneurysm. They have told me that the headaches and the eye symptoms were not related to the aneurysm. Due to the location of my aneurysm if it had leaked there would be no intervention possible. I had a Craniotomy in January and had the aneurysm clipped, it has been aproximately 3 months and my symptoms have since subsided. This very likely is just a coincidence but I felt compelled to share this with you. Thankyou, Lynn